Unity and Union
by Magebrush
Summary: Things in the world are beginning to show signs of going terribly wrong. Four inadvertantly meet up; as they discover more about current events, however, their meeting proves itself to be much more than chance.
1. Leaving Home or Something Like It

Yep, that's right, an FF1 fic. Anyway, Final Fantasy and all related trademarks and names © Nintendo and SquareEnix. Characters such as Vaiss, Coro, Alanis, and Merino © Magebrush. This work of fanfiction may only be hosted on 

Alright, onto what you came here for.

* * *

"Alanis, my child." 

The girl spun around, her straight, scarlet locks invading the range of her bright, green eyes. She brushed her hair away from her fair-skinned face as she answered, "Yes, Mother Vale?"

The old abbess gave a slight smile as she talked. "I would like to speak with you before you leave the abbey today, child." Alanis nodded. She turned eighteen three days ago, therefore forcing her to either stay and become part of the Order of the abbey or leave and practice as a white mage. Seeing as she planned to marry (staying in the abbey would mean a chastity vow), she did not have to ponder her decision for very long.

"Are you content with your decision?" Another nod. Leaving was still difficult, however, since this place was the only home she had ever known.

"In that case, I insist that you at least learn Cure before you act further." She handed her a light, white tome. "This should take you not more than an hour. Return to me then and demonstrate your competence." She left the cell slowly, with a touch of wistfulness.

After the abbess departed, the maiden heaved a sigh and opened the volume. Her competence was arguably unquestioned. The only problem that rose during the whole time was that she rather disliked reading spellbooks. It was always the same incantations over and over, on every page. These needed to be burned into the mind before one could use the spell. Luckily for Alanis, this incantation was short, only lasting one page.

Half an hour later, she was finished with the tome. "Now all I need to do is see if I can cast it right…" she said to herself. But how could she cure something that did not need it? Alas, she found nothing to test herself on. The best she could do at this point was to go straight to the abbess.

It was never extremely difficult to do so; if she was not making her rounds, then she was in her chamber. Today she sat at her desk, facing the door as if she were expecting someone to enter at any moment. Before making her entry, however, she still found it proper to knock and announce herself. "Mother Vale, I am ready to present myself."

About three seconds passed before she received a response. "Enter, my child." She confidently stepped to the desk, remaining standing. "We have a patient in the infirmary. He is not very ill, yet a cure would do him well. If he returns with you, I shall know that you are ready to leave this abbey. Go now, my child."

"I shall return, Mother." She took the short stroll toward the sick bay; it was not far, just three rooms over. Quietly, she turned the doorknob and pushed the heavy cherrywood door open.

Creeping in quietly, she saw a sleeping form on one of the four beds. Upon closer inspection, she found a blue-robed man lying on his stomach, his straw hat on the small table beside the bed. She realized he must be a black mage. It soon dawned on her that this was one of the few moments she would ever see one with his face exposed. His thick, brown hair was tousled a bit, either from his hat or from sleeping. He had a small, thin form not unlike that of someone suffering malnourishment.

After examining him some more, she decided it was time to put her magic to the test. Taking a hold of his hand, she softly whispered, "Cure." Briefly, a small, white light shone from her hand, then disappeared into a stream of green sparkles flowing down his arm into his chest, where it seemingly stopped. A white aura enveloped the man before dissipating into nothing.

As expected, he stirred after a few seconds. For a short while he was unaware of Alanis as he sat up and looked around. The moment he caught sight of her, however, he quickly forced his hat on top of his head, effectively obscuring his face once more. She had only had long enough to notice his bright, blue eyes and soft facial features.

Quickly realizing that he may have offended her, he quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. It's just that I'm not used to letting strangers see my face."

Despite hearing about the notorious self-occlusion of the black mages, his action still surprised the girl. "Not a problem. I was here to heal you. Do you feel any better?" Nervously, she threw a sentence together in hopes of coherency. She was, too, afraid that she had offended him through her actions.

"Oh yes, much better. Thanks!" In spite of the dark shadow cast over his face, his eyes still managed to pierce through to her vision. At the very least she could tell that he was sincere.

It was then she remembered she was to bring him back to Mother Vale. "Pray tell, sir, what is your name?"

As he stood, his blue robe was revealed to only be some sort of heavy cloak. His blue and yellow pinstriped pants extended up to his waistline, where it was held in place by a brown, leather belt. From his belt up, only a blue long-sleeved shirt was visible until the cuffs reached the brown leather gloves covering his hands.

"I'm Merino Aguant, and I'm from Cornelia." He had really just tacked on the last part of the statement in hopes of acquiring an escort on his return trip. This time, he had been lucky enough to have had a fainting spell outside the abbey. Next time, however…

"And I am Alanis Escint. Pleased to meet you." Instead of giving him the curtsy he had expected, she continued on. "I must take you to see the Mother Abbess now. She shall want to know about your condition." She turned and left before he could react; he had to real choice except to follow her back out.

* * *

So what do you think of it? Am I doing it well? Or am I bombing it? Tell me via...the review system. 


	2. Sticky Fingers

Well, well, well...a grand total of 1 review . :P It' okay, I did get feedback, after all, so don't be afraid. If I'm doing somehting that could be done better, let me know so I can improve the quality of what I write for you.

Feral Claw: I thought it needed some explanation and maybe even some OMG character background, so there. :P Thanks! (I won't comment about Merino and Alanis...for now.)

Now that that's settled, onward ho!

* * *

Two others met for the first time in Cornelia at that exact moment.

In the brightest corner of the inn's dining area a muscular man sat, enjoying his meager meal of two fried eggs and a motley portion of bacon. Inexpensive as this inn was, his belt pouch resembled that of one devastated by moths. He knew he would soon have to go out monster hunting again. Sighing, he ran a hand through his short, unruly maroon hair. Such was the life of a wandering warrior.

Lurking in the very same room was a young boy not older than 15. He eagerly eyed his next target. Being a thief, he too was vulnerable to an empty purse. As luck would have it, the man had his back turned on him. Quietly creeping across the floor, he made certain that he did nothing to betray his presence.

When, at last, he had reached the table, he sunk to the floor. Carefully, he unsheathed his knife and slashed the straps holding the small pouch to the belt. However, fickle Dame Fortune chose that exact moment to decide that he had danced with her one too many times. His two errors were in accidentally scratching the man and allowing his purse to fall to the floor, scattering coins everywhere.

Before he had time to sheath his weapon, the man was holding him by the front of his shirt. The boy visibly blanched as he was berated. "What in the world are you doing? That doesn't belong to you!" Where he had scratched him, there was enough blood seeping out to stain his brown leather vest and the white long-sleeved shirt under it.

"I…uh…eheheh…see…" the green-clad boy stammered out.

"Do you realize that you are making someone else poorer in your quest for money?" While not yelling, his voice came out in a gruff, barking tone.

"Uh…no…I think…" Inwardly he cursed himself for blundering.

"It's rather apparent that you don't think. What's your name?"

Quickly, he threw back, "I ain't tellin' ya nothin'!"

His counterattack to that came just as quickly. "Okay then, if you want me to bring you to the officials…"

He blanched again, this time even shuddering. "Okay, okay! I'm Coro!" He stopped to remove his green bandanna, exposing his wavy black hair.

Satisfied, he put Coro down, though still grasping him tightly to prevent his escape. "Well then, Coro, after you pick up my money and give it to me, all while I'm watching you," he said, seemingly not noticing the boy's face fall, "you get to come monster hunting with me to help me pay to get those straps fixed."

Crestfallen and slightly bemused, he risked a quick query. "You aren't turnin' me in?"

His voice softening a bit, the warrior answered, "No, I won't, unless you try to run off with any more of my stuff." As the young thief started to stoop over, the man quickly added, "Oh, yes. By the way, you will call me Vaiss, and nothing else."

After Coro finished cleaning up, Vaiss reasoned that the kid must be stealing to get food. Deciding to show a bit of compassion, he tapped the boy on the shoulder. He turned, merely looking at the warrior. Vaiss then told him, "You can have the rest of my food. I'm not hungry." It must have been obvious that it was a blatant lie, but he was sure he could probably find something out in the forest.

The thief ate ravenously, finishing the meal in a mere minute. Getting up, he once again saw the man looking at him. Still not entirely trusting him, he half-expected him to drag him off to the authorities, but instead he grasped his forearm and led him upstairs into his room.

As he shut the door, he gave yet another command. "Stay there while I get my armor on." It wasn't terribly good in terms of material, but it served him well around Cornelia. All it consisted of was a leather breastplate and a wooden shield to accompany it. He then slid his sheathed rapier into the allotted place in his belt.

Coro, never having seen armor for himself before, was amazed at the sight of it. He never considered armor necessary since it slowed him down considerably and there was no use for it around town. But shields he had seen before, and these, too, were considered unnecessary for the same reasons. The rapier, however, drew most of his attention. He had never used swords before, but he knew he could do so without sacrificing his great agility. After all, the way he saw it, swords were just extended knives.

Vaiss turned around and faced the boy. "Are you ready? We'd better get going so we have time to come back later."


	3. Goblins, Spiders, and Fireballs

Yay, reviews!

SmurfKiller: Well, the Cure thing is really stuff written in something that's roughly equivalent to Latin. It's actually a pretty long text. I just assumed everyone would figure that, so I should go back and fix it. > And about Coro: I figured the four needed a mild annoyance, and I suppose that's about the right age for that. Otherwise, thank you for your thoughts.

* * *

The abbess was sitting half-asleep at her desk when someone knocking on the mahogany door startled her awake. Quickly bringing her wits back to working order, she called out, "Come in." 

She saw Alanis and Merino come into view. Though she was somewhat surprised, she would have been more surprised if she returned alone.

"Good work, my child," she praised her. "You now have my permission to go on your own way."

"Thank you, Mother, for everything you have done for me."

After the two left the room, the old abbess could not restrain a single tear from falling. She was so happy that Alanis had grown up, yet she was very sad to see her go.

* * *

Walking along to Cornelia, the two mages began to converse, simply out of boredom. 

"So, Alanis, how long have you lived in the abbey?" he asked, hoping to break the ice.

"Oh, I suppose since perhaps I was five years old. I do not remember anything that may have happened before then," she responded.

"I see."

"May I ask you how long you've practiced as a black mage?" she inquired.

"Uh…" He didn't want to reveal that he was a mere novice (having only begun two weeks ago), yet he didn't want to be outright lying either. "Maybe a month ago, or three weeks. I don't know for sure." He hoped she bought it.

"Ah, I see." She was about to keep talking when she noticed her pendant becoming very, very warm. Carefully, she pulled it out from under her robes. The crystal on the end of the cord was glowing a dim yellow. Merino saw this.

"You have one of those, too?" He pulled his out, equally warm and emitting a depressed shade of blue.

Still holding her crystal, she told him, "I have had this crystal for as long as I can remember. There is something about it that tells me that I should keep this at all costs, and I am not sure just what it is."

"You know what, I've also had it for as long as I can remember, and I'm sure this is probably really important." They both stared in awe at the pendants.

Right about then, they heard scuffling and yelling to their left. Immediately, they went off the path to try to locate it.

* * *

"Take that, filthy scum!" 

Vaiss and Coro had managed to become caught in a pincer formation of about twelve goblins. While they were easily able to dispatch the ones closest to them, it was clear that they were receiving a steady flow of reinforcements.

"Coro! Don't get separated from me!"

The quirky thief was just a bit more sensible than that, and would have retorted cheekily under normal circumstances. However, he had problems of his own.

"Mr. Vaiss, there's gray goblins around here! They're attacking me!"

Normal, run-of-the-mill goblins were no trouble to Vaiss, as were gray goblins. However, he knew that with the young thief's inexperience, he could be easily overtaken in a matter of minutes. However, as he attempted to go to his aid, two grossly oversized spiders cut him off. Repulsed, he attempted to fight them off, but to no avail. It seemed hopeless as the bite of the spider sent the venom coursing through his body.

But Alanis and Merino had finally discovered their situation.

Merino needed no bidding. He stealthily moved over to where Vaiss was suffering from being totally surrounded. Positioning himself carefully behind a nearby tree, he positioned his gloved hands as if holding a ball. In the center of his hands, a ball of fire spontaneously appeared. Shouting, he hurled the ball at the nearer spider. The sight of the spider collapsing in a heap of ashes was startling, yet welcome. He did likewise for the other spider.

Vaiss was not sure whether the source of the fireballs was friend or foe, so he simply fought his way to Coro. The other monsters had either been scared off by the fire or had stuck around warily.

When he finally hacked down the last of the grey goblins, he came upon a heavily bruised and battered Coro, fighting down the last of his normal goblins.

"Coro! Are you okay?" he called out, rapier still at the ready.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" he lied through his teeth. With great effort, he managed to dispatch his last opponent with a slash to the throat.

Meanwhile, Alanis had found a sturdy, long stick. Wielding it, she cautiously joined in the fray against the remainder of what had been Vaiss's enemies. Together with Merino, she thwacked and cracked out at the incoming goblins.

Merino was having some success with his Fire spells, but his magical capacity was near the point of exhaustion. He would have to stop soon and resort to his heavy staff and his dagger.

Fortunately, the last goblin had finally fled under the menace of two sturdy staves.

Totally unscathed, the two mages found the warrior and the thief. Alanis took it upon herself to ask, "Are you alright?"

Vaiss took one glance at her and, somehow, was a t a loss for words. Finally, he stammered out, "N-no, we're not…I've got a bit of spider poison coursing through me, and my little friend here is a bit bruised…"

She interrupted him mid-sentence. "Just a bit bruised? He is not in good shape. At least he is breathing." She paused a moment, then offered, "I could cast a Cure on you two…"

Mentally, he chastised himself for not noticing that she wore the garments of a white mage. "That would be very helpful, thank you."

"About that poison, I'm afraid we will have to take care of that in town-"

It was now Vaiss's turn to interrupt. "We?"

She immediately replied, "Are we not all going to Cornelia?"

"Yes, I suppose we are…"

"As I was saying, I believe your friend will have to also seek extended help, since I may not be able to fully handle his wounds."

After she cast her healing spell, Coro finally stirred. "Ow!" he cried as he jerked his left hand to his right shoulder. After noticing the attention he had attracted, he reassured them, "No, it ain't broken. I guess those stupid goblins got sharper knives than I figured."

Merino finally suggested, "Well, should we all know who we are before we get going on our way?" I'm Merino."

"My name is Alanis."

"I'm Vaiss."

"Coro here."

Within five minutes they were safely inside the gates of the city of Cornelia.


	4. Out of the Loop

Many people find it quite fascinating that so much can happen in so little time. When the four arrived in the city, things had changed drastically since Vaiss and Coro had left. Everyone was panicking, running about the streets in despair. Carefully, they made their way to the monster control agency. 

As soon as they stepped in, the owner himself was sweating stressfully, but nonetheless greeted them.

"Ah, Mr. Ulrich, I heard about your trouble in the forest. You are in fair condition, I presume?"

Vaiss was a regular in this place. It seemed every day he would have more reports of slain monsters. "Yes, we are in good hands." He paused to gesture back to Alanis, who, in an embarrassed manner, acknowledged the owner.

"Good, good! Now…I have 4000 gold pieces for your trouble." He handed Vaiss the money. Gratefully, he accepted it. But then the man continued. "Since you have been out hunting monsters, I suppose you did not hear about the recent issue in the castle…"

"What happened?"

"Apparently Garland has betrayed Cornelia, and just to spite us, he has kidnapped Princess Sara."

"He WHAT!"

"The entire city is in an uproar, and the royal family are beside themselves with extreme distress."

It was about then that Vaiss felt an intense source of warmth on his chest. Try as he might, he could not ignore it. Glancing over at his newly met companions, he noticed Coro skulking around, yet strangely jamming his hand deep in his pocket.

"I'm sorry to cut a visit short, but we must be going now," said Vaiss apologetically.

"Quite alright, really. Take care!"

Immediately after stepping outside, Vaiss jerked on a cord leading under his armor. On the end was a fiery red crystal, very dimly glowing like the crystal of Alanis and Merino. Coro saw this and pulled the crystal pendant out of his pocket, his being a dim, dark green. The mages saw this and exposed theirs as well. Devoid of words, they stared at each other in shock.

Suddenly, they noticed two Cornelian guards approaching them. "You…are you…the Light Warriors?" In a matter of seconds, they found themselves being escorted into Castle Cornelia.

* * *

Before they knew it, they realized they were in the throne room. About five seconds after noticing that, they immediately dropped into a bow to the king. Grimly smiling, the somewhat aged monarch extended his scepter as permission to stand up. 

"I realize that you four are in possession of crystal orbs. It is just as prophesied." He stopped to clear his throat, then continued. "I have reports that the earth is slowly rotting in the West. The seas everywhere have become infested, and Northern seas have become impossible to navigate. Mt. Gurgu in the East is spewing fire. And violent winds are plaguing the North.

"Lukahn has left us to confer with the Sages of Crescent Lake, but before he departed, he told me of the trouble to come and the warriors that would emerge to save the world. I did not believe him at first. Not until Garland…He was our finest knight, the best one could ask for. And yet, in a trice, he turned against us and made off with my oldest daughter, Sara.

"Thus, I ask of you four Warriors of Light: Will you rescue my daughter?"

The four looked at each other, then Vaiss spoke for them all. "Your Highness, we shall rescue your daughter."

* * *

Later, outside the castle gates, the four walked back into the city. Rather abruptly, Vaiss stopped. The others followed suit. 

"What's the problem, Mr. Vaiss?" Coro asked. He slowly edged closer to the warrior in hopes of snatching his reward for the monsters, but remembered right then what he had threatened to do to him if he were to attempt a theft again. Mentally cursing his luck, he stood where he had stopped.

"About this money…I think you all deserve an equal share of it. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have returned to receive the reward."

Immediately, Alanis stopped him. "Please, keep my share, for it is your money." But he insisted. So, just as he promised, he gave the other three 1000 gold pieces each.

"I do believe we will have to better equip ourselves if we are to rescue the princess."


End file.
